Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan's passion for the country's cinema

The book contains many articles that can be considered valuable research distilled from Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan's more than 30-year career of dedication to Vietnamese cinema.

Phác thảo điện ảnh Việt Nam thời đổi mới và hội nhập: Cuốn sách chứa đầy tâm huyết của tác giả trong 30 năm gắn bó và cống hiến

The book of critical essays “Sketches of Vietnamese cinema in the period of renovation and integration” by Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan is published by the Writers Association Publishing House.

On November 8, the Writers Association Publishing House in collaboration with Lien Viet Book Company organized the launching ceremony of the book of critical essays “Sketching Vietnamese Cinema in the Renovation and Integration Period”, by Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, President of the Vietnam Cinema Promotion and Development Association, Vice President of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, term V.

The program was attended by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen The Ky, former member of the Party Central Committee, former General Director of the Voice of Vietnam, Chairman of the Central Council for Literature and Arts Theory and Criticism; Associate Professor, Dr. Musician Do Hong Quan, Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations; Dr. Trinh Thi Thuy, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Also attending the book launch were many managers in the fields of culture, literature and arts, People's Artists, Meritorious Artists, famous screenwriters and filmmakers of many generations.

The program received attention from the cultural, literary, artistic and cinematic world.

Sketching Vietnamese Cinema in the Period of Renovation and Integration is the third book by author Ngo Phuong Lan. Before that, she had been successful with two books: Companionship with the Screen (1998), a publication that won the Main Award of the Vietnam Cinema Association for its theoretical and critical work, and Modernity and Nationality in Vietnamese Cinema (2005), which won the Golden Kite Award for its theoretical and critical work from the Vietnam Cinema Association.

Notably, her second book was edited and published in English by The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) and Galangpress under the name Modernity and Nationality in Vietnamese Cinema , released internationally in 2007.

Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan is also the co-author of several books on Asian cinema published in English, such as: Mass Media in Vietnam (published in Australia, 1998); Vietnam in the 20 ^th Century - Plastic and Visual Arts from 1925 to our time (published in Belgium, 1998); Being and Becoming - The Cinemas of Asia (published in India, 2003); Le Cinema Vietnamien (Vietnamese Cinema - Published in France, 2007).

Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan shares the process of completing the book.

In this collection of film criticism essays Sketching Vietnamese Cinema in the Period of Renovation and Integration , Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan divided the book into two different parts.

Part one can be considered a critical part. Besides the first chapter that summarizes the cinematographic works and the directors' styles, there are critical articles on a number of selected films that have made their mark during the renovation period, such as The Retired General , Missing the Countryside , Guava Season , Quiet Town , Thang Bom , Wandering Circus , Apartment Building , Me Thao's Time of Glory , Who Flows to the End , The Golden Key , Forgive Me , Dong Loc Junction , The Wharf Without a Husband , The Bitter Taste of Love , Sand Life , Deserted Valley , Moon at the Bottom of the Well , Reed Grass , Sawmills , Buffalo Shearing Season , Distant Times , Living in Fear , Floating , Going South to North , Pao's Story ...

The script and structure of the film, the situations in the film, the way the scenes are handled, the music, the art of character building and the actors' performances... are analyzed and criticized by the author with academic expertise, but expressed in simple and measured language, so it is easily suitable for anyone interested in and loves Vietnamese cinema.

Part two of the book is a number of essays and articles about the development and ups and downs of Vietnamese cinema in the context of international integration and on the path to building a film industry.

In this section, the author also outlines the "map" of international film festivals, the journey of Vietnamese cinema to the international level, the challenges and lessons learned in building the Vietnamese film industry, and in particular, she is always concerned with the story of promoting the image of the country and Vietnamese people to the world through cinema.

The author confided about his passion for the book: “Indeed, when writing, my purpose was to string together and systematize a journey of more than thirty years from when Vietnam entered the renovation process (1986) to early 2023 to produce a clear sketch.

Fortunately, this is also more than thirty years that I have been able to work tirelessly and passionately, despite having to overcome many difficulties and challenges. Therefore, I keep telling myself that I am a truly lucky person, because my whole life has been devoted to the profession I love, since I chose to major in film criticism theory to study and practice.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen The Ky, Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art, shared some assessments of the book's content.

Evaluating the book, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen The Ky commented: “The author has been very diligent and subtle in writing criticisms of most of the films that have made their mark since the time of Vietnamese cinema’s renovation and integration. This is very valuable because criticism is a difficult field, with always conflicting opinions and comments. Besides a prestigious film critic, we can see in Ngo Phuong Lan a visionary manager with dedicated articles on how to successfully build the Vietnamese film industry, bringing Vietnamese cinema to a worthy position on the regional and world cinema map.”

Deputy Director of the Vietnam Cinema Department, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ly Phuong Dung, shared: “Many articles can be considered valuable research works that have been distilled, of different scales and nature, summarized by the author over more than three decades of working, being attached to and contributing to the country's cinema industry, demonstrating the author's loyal love for the cinema industry, where he has been attached from his youth until now, regardless of his position.

In addition to the State Prize for research and critical theory, the Second Class Labor Medal is a noble award that Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan has received from the cultural and cinematic products that she founded such as the Hanoi International Film Festival, the Green Screen Short Film Competition, the Da Nang Asian Film Festival, and many other film events that have been and will be organized according to her initiative with tireless efforts to contribute to the construction and development of the Vietnamese film industry.

Guests came to celebrate the book launch ceremony "Sketch of Vietnamese cinema in the period of renovation and integration".

Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan was born in 1963 in Hanoi. She graduated from the Faculty of Film Theory and Criticism (Cinematology) - Soviet State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in 1988.

She was Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation - Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2010-2011), Director of the Department of Cinema - Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2011-2018), Director of the Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF, 2012-2018).

She is currently the President of the Vietnam Cinema Promotion Association, Term I; Vice President of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, Term V; Director of the Da Nang Asian Film Festival (DANAFF); Member of the Executive Committee of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC). She was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2017.

At CineAsia 2022, she received the award for “Asia Pacific Copyright Contributor”.

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